2015 in Review: Goals; and 2016 Goals

Last, and by far the shortest of my 2015 review posts (previously: How I Spent My Money and Things That I Made) is this one about goals last year and this year.

My goals and ambitions for 2015 and the outcomes I actually achieved are as follows:

• Stick to my 2015 budget. This includes a resolution to spend less on patterns as a % of total than in 2014. DONE and DONE. \o/ (See the Money post for more details)
• Use more fabric that I buy, and reduce my overall garment stash by 50m and my bag stash by 20m by the end of the year.  Partial \o/! I did use more fabric than I bought and my total stash decreased. However, this was by a rather more modest total of -33.1m, with the majority being a reduction in my bag stash (-28.55m) rather than garment stash (-4.55m). I need to do better on the garment side of things this year.
• Reduce my yarn stash by at least half. DONE \o/ My yarn stash reduction is a definite win. I sold a lot of yarn I was never going to use, used a bunch and refrained from buying too much. Not only is my yarn stash considerably less than half what it was before, it also presently conforms to my ideal stash: it contains only my current projects, some defined future projects and a small amount of scrap.
• Maintain and stick to my wardrobe plan. DONE \o/. I am very happy with my wardrobe planning efforts.

Sadly, I didn't achieve even one of my new technique/new garment type ambitions in 2015, mainly due to illness making it very difficult for me to start or complete complex projects. However, they all hold true as things I want to do so I've just copy & pasted for 2016.

More pleasingly, I also aimed to:

• Finish the Slowest Quilt In The World. \o/ DONE!
• Make 6 knitted items (1 sock = 1 item) and increase the complexity of patterns I'm using. DONE \o/. I actually made 7 items and none of them were socks, and I significantly increased the complexity of my knitting during the year from only ever knitting simple scarves to trying out lace and successfully completing a sweater.

A couple of little blog plans:

• Continue to try to improve my photos. Well, I tried? I'll give myself a \o/ for trying.
• Finish the wardrobe planning series of posts. I didn't finish, but I did write one more and I have another half done. \o/

 As for 2016, these are my practical goals:

• Stick to my 2016 budget and reduce my spending on patterns compared to 2015
• Reduce garment stash to less than 150m (from ~193m at the end of 2015).
• Use at least two thirds of 2016 fabric purchases within 2016.

Some specific ambitions:

• Make: woven trousers (with or without fly); a woven dress; a piece of outerwear; a lined tailored blazer
• Try: welt pockets; bound buttonholes; contrast top-stitching; fly fronts
• Make: 2-3 really great bags
• Make: an Alabama Chanin style embellished item
• Complete: 6 knitted items completed
• Sew and buy according to my wardrobe plan -- two-thirds of new clothes handmade vs RTW, half of new RTW thrifted.

And as always, my biggest goal is to enjoy my sewing! :D